DIGITAL
HOLOBIONTS
HOLOBIONTS
Project co-curators:
Harriet Mummery – Interdisciplinary Artist, Researcher, Designer, Curator
Lucia Paganini - Animator, Character Designer
Illustrators:
Bee Pham - Illustrator
Taryn Domingue - Illustrator
Indy Quartel - Illustrator
Harriet Mummery – Interdisciplinary Artist, Researcher, Designer, Curator
Lucia Paganini - Animator, Character Designer
Illustrators:
Bee Pham - Illustrator
Taryn Domingue - Illustrator
Indy Quartel - Illustrator
Cover image: Taryn Domingue
This time .RAW collaborated with two artists – Harriet Mummery and Lucia Paganini – who invited three illustrators - Bee Pham, Indy Quartel, and Taryn Domingue - to explore the idea of a ‘digital holobiont’ in a 3D scanning workshop held at the Arts University Bournemouth.
In biology, a holobiont is not a single organism, but rather a composite body, a collection of different species of organisms, including the host organism and various microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live within and on the host organism. These microorganisms are not just passive inhabitants but are actively involved. In this project, the illustrators were invited to portray a ‘digital holobiont’ – a conglomerate of organisms and objects coexisting both in physical space and online.
In biology, a holobiont is not a single organism, but rather a composite body, a collection of different species of organisms, including the host organism and various microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live within and on the host organism. These microorganisms are not just passive inhabitants but are actively involved. In this project, the illustrators were invited to portray a ‘digital holobiont’ – a conglomerate of organisms and objects coexisting both in physical space and online.
The question embedded into the model – 'What does it feel like to have a body?' – shows my doubt about owning a body, being unsure about the existence of it
Bee:
The 3D model is a combination of scans of myself, including my portrait and my body being merged into a corner of the room. Since holobiont is where a host (myself) lives alongside other organisms, forming an ecological unit which is how it portrays myself living in my room. My body is rooted into the room is when I am able to recharge myself and feel comfortable with my own
'habitat'.
The big portrait of mine asks if the body is even mine anymore, when both of my faces are not even attached to the figure. Everyday I go out to the world, living in a bigger world, and this is what is left by the end of the day. The question embedded into the model – 'What does it feel like to have a body?' – shows my doubt about owning a body, being unsure about the existence of it.
The 3D model is a combination of scans of myself, including my portrait and my body being merged into a corner of the room. Since holobiont is where a host (myself) lives alongside other organisms, forming an ecological unit which is how it portrays myself living in my room. My body is rooted into the room is when I am able to recharge myself and feel comfortable with my own
'habitat'.
The big portrait of mine asks if the body is even mine anymore, when both of my faces are not even attached to the figure. Everyday I go out to the world, living in a bigger world, and this is what is left by the end of the day. The question embedded into the model – 'What does it feel like to have a body?' – shows my doubt about owning a body, being unsure about the existence of it.
That's what all people truly are: a collection of experiences, memories and parts taken and shared among other people
Taryn:
This 3D model is a combination of various 3D scans I found on Polycam, collaged together and distorted. This collage of pieces and parts presents the holobiont, which in itself is a collection of organisms. I've then filled spaces with illustrations, small parts that someone would have to search for – to represent the parts of myself that are hidden in cracks and away from direct sight. The goal of this piece was to have so much to look at that it would feel overwhelming and a little uncanny. But viewed as one piece, it all comes together into a Frankenstein's monster because that's what all people truly are: a collection of experiences, memories and parts taken and shared among other people.
This 3D model is a combination of various 3D scans I found on Polycam, collaged together and distorted. This collage of pieces and parts presents the holobiont, which in itself is a collection of organisms. I've then filled spaces with illustrations, small parts that someone would have to search for – to represent the parts of myself that are hidden in cracks and away from direct sight. The goal of this piece was to have so much to look at that it would feel overwhelming and a little uncanny. But viewed as one piece, it all comes together into a Frankenstein's monster because that's what all people truly are: a collection of experiences, memories and parts taken and shared among other people.
I wanted to personalise archeological findings using illustration. I downloaded a 3D model of one of the archeological findings – tibia and fibula bones, and placed an illustration of the Cueva de las Manos (Cave of Hands) in Argentina into it - pieces of cave art created in waves between 7,300 B.C and 700 A.D.
This illustration is a reminder that people of the past created small pieces of art together throughout history joining individual effort into something much bigger. It is also a reminder that there was someone real that lived a full life before we found them, someone with the same hands as the ones we look at when we look at ourselves.
3d-scanning in archaeology brings the bodies from the past and the present together in the digital realm, and the bone scan is like a ‘host’ for the traces of other bodies from the past.
This illustration is a reminder that people of the past created small pieces of art together throughout history joining individual effort into something much bigger. It is also a reminder that there was someone real that lived a full life before we found them, someone with the same hands as the ones we look at when we look at ourselves.
3d-scanning in archaeology brings the bodies from the past and the present together in the digital realm, and the bone scan is like a ‘host’ for the traces of other bodies from the past.
Indy: